the pell grant program is a lifeline for the economy. for african-american and latino students, education is the only steppingstone out of poverty. there are very few dollars to inherit from the family trust. there are very few african- americans and latinos that can save enough to send their children to college so the pell grant is key. we need more students to undertake higher education in order to close the skill gap and boost nativity. but so many families are struggling to cover rising costs. thee some exaggerate funding gap with regard to pell, the fact is the program has been cut by more than $50 billion and is projected to remain stable. know theortant to growth and pell grant costs has number ofo the eligible students in this time of high unemployment. not due to policy change. what this says to me is we can reduce the cost of the pell grant program by getting americans working again. once we can get americans working again, we will have fewer enrollees and fewer families requiring assistance. this congress has to turn back to i